Ok I have Never had minnows before as pets, and it's been a few years since I had a fishtank, so i've forgotten alot. I have an Eclipse System Three Aquarium, it's hard plastic, but very durable. I has a special filter that has 3 stages of filtration. Mechanical, which traps fish waste and debris, Chemical, which has avtivated carbon, and Biological, which grows healthy bacteria that traps ammonia. My question is how to take care of the minnows and what materials I need to purchase, I only have the tank!

Here are some more questions I have.

1. I think my tank is a five gallon, not sure, how many rosy's can I keep in it?
2. How often should I change the water, and how much do i take out of the tank? When I clean the gravel, do my fish need to be put in a seperate tank while I do it, will non-moving water kill them if there in it for a few minutes while I clean the tank?
3. How do I declorinate the water?
4. What PH does the water need to be?
5. Do they need a light on at all?
6. What do they eat?
7. Do they need bubbles in the tank or will my filter provide oxygen as it rotates?
8. What diseases are they suceptible to? What are the treatments?
9. Am I panicking too much, because it seems like alot of work to keep a clean and healthy fishtank, i've never had any filters that make helpful bacteria before and have never used dechlorinated water, so thats why all my fish never lasted long, so I want to finally learn the Proper way to care for fish!

If I think of any more questions I will post, thank you.

let me see if i can help... i by far dont know as much as robyn, but it seems i am the first one here.
robyn's site it packed full of rosie info. http://www.fishpondinfo.com/rosies.htm

1. I would put 3 in a 5 gallon.
2. normally once a week, 25% water change is usual
3. you dechlorinate the water with dechlorinator, found at the fish store, and add it as the instructions say.
4. my pond is a bit above 7 or so maybe in the 8 region, and they are fine.
5. mine are outside, so they have a natural light cycle. you could simulate this with artificial light.
6. i feed mine flake food, but they eat insect larvae too, some other tiny insects and fry if they are around.
7. the filter should be enough, i am not familiar with it. i dont have an airater in my pond, it just goes off the fountain, spitting frog and waterfall to stir up the water.
8. i should leave this one alone... i am not too versed in the fish disease area, but when a specific one comes up, they have a medicine to treat it, unless its a terminal disease.

you didnt ask temp, but they are pretty darn hardy... from what, 50-75 degrees F and even down to almost freezing and up to 100.

you may want to read robyns page about getting them healthy, and medicating them right off the bat...rosys are usually kept in overcrowded aquariums and sold as feeders, so they sometimes arent the healthiest of fish. i've lost rosys on the way home from the fish store.

jarrod is right.

I know what you mean I brought around 40 of them and they just started to die of shock! There is a pond by me that has alot of fathead minnows so I put a few rosy's in there, they are very hardy but moslty the other fish try to eat them. A few have survived and are flourishing! Now that i've gotten to know them I would like to keep a few as pets in an aquarium. Also I noticed to increase there chances of survival on the way home, I put them in a small tank for transport and at the same time a few live blackworms. A larger percentage survived because they were so busy eating, they quickly adapted to the change in environment! That way when you get home lots more will be alive. They are ferocious when they are hungry!

"1. I think my tank is a five gallon, not sure, how many rosy's can I keep in it?"

I have the same tank. I haven't used it in a few years though. It was too hard to clean. It is only a three gallon tank. I wouldn't put more than three rosy red minnows in there. In the long run, you and the fish will have much better luck if you get at least a 10 gallon tank for them.

"2. How often should I change the water, and how much do i take out of the tank? When I clean the gravel, do my fish need to be put in a seperate tank while I do it, will non-moving water kill them if there in it for a few minutes while I clean the tank?"

I do weekly 50% water changes on my tanks. When I set up my Eclipse 3, the tank had a lot of trouble cycling. The ammonia was spiked for months so I did daily, yes daily, 50% water changes for a long time to get it under control. You leave the fish in the tank while you clean it. The fish will be fine without the electrical equipment running for a short time.

"3. How do I declorinate the water?"

You add a dechlorinator such as Stress Coat or Tap Water Conditioner.

"4. What PH does the water need to be?"

Near neutral is best for rosy reds but they'll live in water from pH 6 to 8 just fine.

"5. Do they need a light on at all?"

It comes with a light. I would use it so they can see to eat and explore. The shorter time the light is on, the less algae problems that you'll have. The light it comes with is not that strong. It didn't promote very much algae in mine.

"6. What do they eat?"

They will eat almost any fish foods, preferring meat-based foods. Live is always the most preferred followed by frozen, then freeze-dried, and finally flakes/pellets/etc. Regular TetraMin flakes work well for my rosy reds.

"7. Do they need bubbles in the tank or will my filter provide oxygen as it rotates?"

If the distance from the water out to the top of the water line is at least half an inch, the splash will be enough to provide aeration. I don't think I used an air stone in mine. The biowheel portion of the filter also does add some oxygen into the water.

"8. What diseases are they suceptible to? What are the treatments?"

See my fish health pages at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/health.htm
My rosy reds have had things such as ick, tuberculosis, and septicemia. Feeder fish often are anorexic and suffer from bacterial, fungal, and/or parasitic infections. They can have most anything.

"I know what you mean I brought around 40 of them and they just started to die of shock! There is a pond by me that has alot of fathead minnows so I put a few rosy's in there, they are very hardy but moslty the other fish try to eat them. A few have survived and are flourishing!"

Fatheads and rosy reds are the same species, just different colors. It's not a good idea to put rosy reds or any fish into a pond (natural especially but also your own) without a quarantine. Feeder fish are almost always diseased. You don't want to give those problems to the fish that are already in the pond.

"They are ferocious when they are hungry!"

My rosy reds are little pigs. But, the ones you get right from the pet store are often anorexic and literally starving. They are desperate for food.

i would get an airetor. feeder fish should really be treated better. if i had a large predator fish such as an oscar and i died because i didnt know the goldfish it eats are sick that would make me mad.

One more question how do I know when I have to much, or too little ammonia? Will daily water changes like you said fix the problem?

One more thing nobody gave me a list of supplies I need to buy before I set up my tank and get the fish!

you'll know when you have too much ammonia when you see your fish all belly up or stuck to the filter... cuz they'll all be dead, :)

but seriously, you can get some test strips or a test kit and keep a watch on the ammonia, also with nitrates, nitrites. you want no ammonia.... basically ammonia = poison.

if your ammonia is high, i think you can use ammo-lock to "lock" up the toxicity of the ammonia, but it will still read high until it is gone.

yah get a test kit.

There's more on testing water and water chemistry on my page at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/chem.htm

See my first aquarium page at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/first.htm under #9 for a list of possible supplies. They vary with your setup and your desires/needs.

yah, there are also oxygen levels, and other stuff.

Thank You for all your help everyone. :D